Originality: Not All Its Cracked Up to Be

You know, we’ve all heard it. Every time we look at someone’s project, there is a large chance we will get how something is “totally new” or “like nothing you’ve seen before”. How everyone in discussions talk about how you should look to have your game be unique, or how you should avoid cliches and tropes like the plague.

I’m here to say something a little bit controversial. Nine times out of ten, originality doesn’t count for anything.

And now that you’ve escaped the trap that is TVTropes, I can also say that I’m definitely not saying originality itself is bad.

What I am saying though, is that originality for originality’s sake is almost always a bad idea. When you insert a character, situation, etc to your game, the question you should be asking yourself is: What does this do for the story? How does it communicate with the player? If your answer is ever: Its because its not been done before, with no other real reason. Strike that out. Don’t do it.

Its not about having original ideas, its about executing what you do WELL. The parts of your story should fit together like a puzzle to communicate something to your player. Each piece should have a purpose, and putting in a piece for the express purpose of being unique is just screaming “look at me, look at me, I’m special” without adding anything to the overall piece.

Not only that, tropes exist because they work. They are storytelling mechanisms that are capable of giving a lot of information to the player quickly. Familiarity in parts that don’t matter can make the parts that do matter easier to explain, because you don’t need to do all the leg work around explaining the basics. And sometimes they just work because they effectively evoke the emotion you are looking for in your player.

Tropes are used because they work. Sometimes, no one has done something because no one is that stupid. “I’m going to have a plot where this and this happens, and that is so cool because its never been done.” Well WHY? What were you trying to get out of it other than, its never been done? Its never been done doesn’t MEAN anything.

Writing isn’t about avoiding tropes. Its about executing what you use well. Want some examples?

Ice, the 8th episode of the 1st season of X-Files, is generally accepted as being the first episode of the series to really prove that Chris Carter had something special with this show. In the episode, Agents Mulder and Scully are trapped at an Alaskan research facility by inclement weather with a collection of scientists in which an alien parasite has secretly taken control of one of them. Movie buffs will recognize that… wait, this sounds like John Carpenter’s The Thing! And here is the thing, it shares tons and tons and tons of similarities. I wouldn’t deny it, and I don’t think anyone else would either.

But the writing and acting in Ice were phenomenal. The atmosphere of paranoia in the episode is so thick you cut it with a knife. It was not good because it was original, but because it set out to do what it did WELL.

Another example is Final Fantasy Tactics (yeah, I know, I mention this game a lot, I CAN’T HELP IT GUYS ITS A REALLY GOOD GAME). The entire game is one pile of tropes.

Corrupt Nobles

Corrupt Church

Ancient Demons

The Young Noble Main Character who is Truly Honoroable

The Downtrodden Peasant who will Change The World At Any Cost

Save the Girl

But even though its really really filled with tropes, all the interplay of individual parts tells a great and compelling story.

Don’t focus on originality. Focus on making the story you write good. Originality will enter into the story naturally, or maybe not at all, it shouldn’t be forced.